Wireless communication devices transmit and receive information wirelessly via a wireless access node to communicate over a communication network. Typically, the wireless access node is part of a radio access network (RAN) which provides the wireless communication devices with access to further communication networks, systems, and devices. Wireless communication networks generate user data related to the wireless communication services provided to the users of the wireless communication devices. The user data identifies these users and the number, size, and time of their wireless communications, among other information. This user data is often used for billing and performance management and may also be mined for network planning and design. The user data may also be used for marketing purposes. In some cases, the user data may be complied and assimilated into call detail records (CDRs).
Customer knowledge is important for effective marketing. For example, customer knowledge is often used to target advertising to the customer based on customer-specific information. Thus, knowledge of a customer's demographic information can be very desirable to ascertain. For example, a wireless communication network may offer different types of services to different users based on their home location, age, gender, income level, political affiliations, and other demographic attributes. The wireless network may also want to target advertising at users that fall into particular demographics. However, the communication data that is collected does not provide a clear indication of the demographic attributes of the users.
Overview
A method of operating a data processing system to infer demographic information for a user of a wireless communication device is disclosed. The method comprises processing a plurality of call detail records (CDRs) to generate a plurality of call graphs having different time slices based on time ranges when data in the CDRs was collected, wherein the call graphs comprise nodes that represent individual callers and edges between the nodes that represent bi-directional communication between the individual callers. The method further comprises identifying neighbors of the user that have a high likelihood of sharing a common demographic attribute with the user based on communication features and structural features among the neighbors on one of the call graphs. The method further comprises identifying a most similar neighbor among the neighbors of the user that has a highest likelihood of sharing the common demographic attribute with the user.
A computer apparatus to infer demographic information for a user of a wireless communication device comprises software instructions and at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing the software instructions. The software instructions are configured, when executed by a data processing system, to direct the data processing system to process a plurality of call detail records (CDRs) to generate a plurality of call graphs having different time slices based on time ranges when data in the CDRs was collected, wherein the call graphs comprise nodes that represent individual callers and edges between the nodes that represent bi-directional communication between the individual callers. The software instructions are further configured to direct the data processing system to identify neighbors of the user that have a high likelihood of sharing a common demographic attribute with the user based on communication features and structural features among the neighbors on one of the call graphs.
The software instructions are further configured to direct the data processing system to identify a most similar neighbor among the neighbors of the user that has a highest likelihood of sharing the common demographic attribute with the user.